The time-honored way of showing love in an Italian family is to offer food. Whether we're celebrating, mourning, happy, sad--if we're breathing, there's a table filled with great things to eat. Life's too short, so eat what you love and love what you eat.

Friday, November 29, 2013

Classic Meatloaf

A lot of people turn up their noses at meatloaf--I used to be one of them. Then I discovered the meatloaf sandwich and all that changed. I've tried any number of recipes for meatloaf, some more successful than others. My favorites taste just as good lukewarm as they do hot, have a bit of sweetness, and have a consistency that holds together but is not dense. This recipe had an almost perfect proportion of beef, pork, and veal.Serves 6 - 2 slices per servingIngredients
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs
2 tbs nonfat milk
1/2 cup ketchup, divided
2/3 lb extra lean ground beef
1/2 lb lean ground pork
6 oz lean ground veal
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/3 cup chopped parsley
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
2 egg whites
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place bread in a food processor; pulse 10 times or until coarse breadcrumbs measure 1 1/2 cups.

Shape meat mixture into a 9 x 5-inch loaf on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Spread remaining 6 tablespoons ketchup over top of meat loaf. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a thermometer registers 160°. Let stand for 10 minutes. Cut the loaf into 12 slices.

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TASTE NOTES

I enjoyed this for dinner with mashed potatoes and glazed carrots, but I enjoyed it even more on a soft kaiser roll with some BBQ sauce. Meatloaf shouldn't just be ground beef baked in a loaf and this combination of beef, pork, and veal was far more flavorful than just beef alone. I'm sure there'll be other meatloaf recipes to try, but, in the meantime, this one has a star next to it that says "make again soon."